Ukraine rebels in controversial polls amid disagreement over legitimacy

Pro-Russia rebels have started voting in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic to set up a new breakaway leadership amid disagreement over legitimacy.

The controversial leadership elections are being held by pro-Russia separatists that Kiev and the West have refused to recognise as legitimate. The conflict is threatening to deepen the international crisis over the conflict.

The elections on Sunday in the two main rebel-held cities, are designed to bring a degree of legitimacy to the makeshift military regimes that already controls them.

Both are choosing new presidents and parliaments, but there is little question that the current unelected rebel chiefs - Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk and Igor Plotnitsky in Lugansk - will be confirmed in their posts.

Russia has stated that it will recognise the election results, while Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko, the European Union and NATO have condemned the polls.

Moscow's backing for the vote has sparked a new round of criticism from the West, which has said that punishing sanctions against the Russian economy will not be lifted until the Kremlin does more to help implement a repeatedly violated truce in Ukraine.

No international election monitors will be present for the vote, and no minimum turnout has been set by the organisers, reflecting the uncertainty over how many voters will bother turning out.

"These elections are important because they will give legitimacy to our power and give us more distance from Kiev," said Roman Lyagin, election commission chief of the Donetsk People's Republic.